From: Chema Celorio <chema@ximian.com> Subject: Ximian Setup Tools 0.5 Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 10:50:28 -0500 The Ximian Setup Tools 0.5.1 have been released. The Ximian Setup Tools are a set of cross-platform configuration utilities for Linux and other Unices. Internally they are divided in frontends and backends. The frontend knows nothing about the underlying system and provides the same user interface across the different types of systems. The backend knows how to read and write configuration information. The Ximian Setup Tools do not impose a new database on the system, they work with the default configuration files so that configuration can still be done by hand or by other tools. Changes since last release -------------------------- - Bugs bugs bugs. Too many to count (Everybody) - New distros supported/testsed : Red Hat 7.1, SuSE 7.0 Debian Woody (Arturo, Joakim, Chema) [*1] - Added a debian dir (thanks hadess) - Blinking removed from time tool (Hans Petter) - User profiles in users tool (Tambet) - Significant speedup (Hans Petter) - Time-tool front end improvements (Chema) - Timezone setting on Debian fixed (Hans Petter) - All tools can save their state between sessions (Tambet) - Searchbar is complexity-aware in users tool (Tambet) - Sort list of selectable distributions (Nils Barth) - Fixed shares tool SMB problems (Hans Petter) - Location management builds by default now (Bradford) - Beginnings of FreeBSD support (Theo van Klaveren) - New root authentication based on work by Chris L. Bond (Hans Petter) - You can now avoid having your DNS settings overriden with DHCP information with systems using pump (Arturo) - Lots of strings marked for translation and typos corrected (Carlos) [*1] - Debian Woody "mapping" stanzas for /etc/network/interfaces are not supported yet. Modem and ISDN connections for SuSE 7.0 are not yet implemented as well. Downloading ---------- You can get it from : ftp://ftp.ximian.com/pub/setuptools/ or (once the mirrors sync) ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/unstable/sources/ximian-setup-tools Contributions ------------- We are happy to say that a lot of contributions have started flowing in. We still need lots of help from anybody interested in contributing to XST. - Testing Testing that the tools work correctly on your system and either filing detailed bug reports or confirming that they work correctly is greatly appreciated. If you test a tool on an unsupported distro/system and find out that it works correctly let us know so that we can update the supported tools matrix (see below). - Porting The backends are designed as to minimize the effort needed to support more distros/systems. A great way to contribute is to port the tools to another distribution/system. Mailing list / IRC ------------------ We have a mailing list set up at : http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/setup-tool-hackers You can also find us in IRC server irc.gnome.org/ channel #xst Whitepaper ---------- You can find the latest version of the XST whitepaper at: http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/helix-setup-tools.html Backup system ------------- Every time a tool modifies your system configuration files, it makes backups of those files. The backups are rotated (for 9 levels in total), and the backup made the first time the tool was run is kept forever. This means that you can revert your system configuration to the point before you ever ran a Ximian Setup Tool. The backup path is /var/cache/ximian-setup-tools/backup///. In this directory, you'll find a complete snapshot of the files that were modified. The original directory structure leading up to these files is also kept. runs from 1-9, and when the first backup is rotated out, it is kept in a special catalog called "First", which is never touched again. Location Management ------------------- Location management is available under the program "location-manager-capplet", now built by default. This program runs in two modes: per-user and global. In per-user mode (the default), the capplets available from the control center are location-managed. In order to use this mode, you will need to fetch the GNOME Control Center from CVS (HEAD branch). A release of the Control Center with capplets that support location management will be made shortly. In global mode, the Ximian Setup Tools themselves are location managed. To invoke the location manager in this mode, pass the -g option. Of course, you will need to be running as root to run the location manager in this mode. The current set of tools include : ---------------------------------- - Network admin Allows you to configure your: - hostname - samba hostname and workgroup - DNS servers - search domains - hosts (/etc/hosts) - Network interfaces - ppp - ethernet - slip - wavelan (limited support) - Time admin Allows you to configure your : - Date & Time - Timezone - NTPD servers - Users admin Allows you to manage : - Users - username / full name - password - home dir - shell - groups - Groups - Boot admin Allows you to set : - Default boot partition - Partition type and label - Timeout - Kernel image - Kernel extra parameters (append) - adding or deleting partitions from the boot manager - Shares admin Allows you to import and export NFS and samba shares. - import NFS & samba shares - export NFS & samba shares - Disks admin Allows you to : - Mount and unmount local file systems. - Memory admin Allows you to configure : - Swap partitions - Swap files - priorities of swap areas Verification matrix ------------------- This is a matrix describing the current status of tool platform/distribution support. To the best of our knowledge. Key: + Supported and tested. The tool will not ask you to select a compatible version or distribution. Of course, there may still be bugs. :-) +? Supported, not tested. Same as '+', but we haven't tested it. In other words, it "should work", because we know it's compatible. ? Unsupported, may work. You'll be asked to select a compatible version or distribution, which may or may not work. - Unsupported, doesn't work. We haven't worked on any version of that flavour. It's most possible that it won't work. Red Hat Linux: Version 5.2 6.0 6.1 6.2 7.0 7.1 Boot +? +? +? + + + Disks +? +? +? + + + Memory +? +? +? + + + Network +? +? +? + + + Shares +? +? +? + + + Time +? +? +? + + + Users +? +? +? + + + Debian GNU/Linux: Version 2.2 Woody Boot + + Disks + + Memory + + Network + +? Shares + + Time + + Users + +? Woody comments: You'll have to echo 'woody' > /etc/debian_version to make the ximian-setup-tools detect your distribution. Linux Mandrake: Version 7.0 7.1 7.2 8.0 Boot ? ? + ? Disks ? ? + ? Memory ? ? + ? Network ? ? + ? Shares ? ? + ? Time ? ? + ? Users ? ? + ? SuSE Linux: Version 6.3 6.4 7.0 7.1 Boot ? ? + ? Disks ? ? + ? Memory ? ? + ? Network ? ? +? ? Shares ? ? + ? Time ? ? + ? Users ? ? + ? Turbolinux: Version 6 Boot ? Disks ? Memory ? Network - Shares ? Time - Users ? LinuxPPC: Version 2000 Boot - Disks ? Memory ? Network - Shares ? Time - Users ? Yellow Dog Linux: Version 1.2 2.0 Boot - - Disks ? ? Memory ? ? Network - - Shares ? ? Time - - Users ? ? Solaris: Version 7.0 8.0 Boot - - Disks - - Memory - - Network - - Shares - - Time - - Users - - HPUX: Version 10.0 11.0 Boot - - Disks - - Memory - - Network - - Shares - - Time - - Users - - FreeBSD: Version 4.x 5.x Boot - - Disks - - Memory - - Network - - Shares ? ? Time - - Users ? ?